Shopkeepers’ night vigil at Bengaluru mall helps catch burglars | Bengaluru News
Bengaluru: Frustrated with repeated burglaries at their closed shops for the last four months, merchants at a commercial complex finally decided to put up night vigil themselves. The result: One burglar was caught red-handed, while two others were nabbed later.The shopkeepers handed over the burglars to Commercial Street police station. They have been identified as Imran Khan, 30, Yousuf Pasha, 22, and Nabil Ahmed, 25.A senior police officer said all three accused are residents of Shivajinagar. Clothes, a TV, and other valuables were recovered from them. Police have registered a case under multiple sections of BNS, and the trio is being interrogated.According to the complaint filed by Mohammed Mujahid, who owns four shops and a gym at the five-storey Krupa Shree Palace Mall on Thyagi Doraiswamy Road in Shivajinagar, the 30-shop complex was sealed by BBMP on Jan 29 over unpaid property tax.Since then, shopkeepers were not allowed to enter the premises. However, some of them noticed strangers coming out of the building in the wee hours, carrying items in bags.One of the shopkeepers, who had installed CCTV cameras at his establishment, found out that some intruders had sneaked into the shopping complex from its rear entry point. He immediately alerted Mujahid and the other shopowners.Speaking to TOI, Mujahid said it was then that they realised that the thefts were going on for the last four months. “We are already at a loss as we are not able to open our shops. Our savings have almost run dry. These thefts are now like rubbing salt to the wound.”Pushed to the brink, the shopkeepers decided to put up a night vigil to catch the culprits. On May 28, they spread out in groups and hid themselves around the building complex at night.“Around 7 am the next day, as one of the thieves, Imran, tried to enter the building through a broken window on the ground floor, we caught him. He later revealed the names of Yousuf and Nabil,” Mujahid said.While Yousuf was nabbed from his house, Nabil was caught near the shopping complex.“We recovered Rs 3 lakh worth of clothes, mostly women’s garments, from the three accused. Once the unpaid property tax is cleared and BBMP allows us to open our shops, we will know the extent of loss.”
